


This I Promise You

by dark__swan



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, JUST SOME CUTENESS OKAYYY, Wedding, proposal, relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-13
Updated: 2015-05-13
Packaged: 2018-03-30 08:58:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3930802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dark__swan/pseuds/dark__swan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I just had the feels and needed to write a one-shot of Killian proposing to Emma. Post-4x23 (well, Post-season 5, if Season 5 went the way I wish it would).</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Probably a piece of shit, but it's 5am. I tried.

   Emma held the wheel steady as the Jolly Roger drifted across the ocean, gently rocking with each wave's push. Closing her eyes, she let the gusts of wind sift through her hair and twirl around her body. A smile spread across her lips as she remembered the adventures her and Killian had had on the ship. From the journey to Neverland, to her parent's past, to an alternate realm where her swashbuckling pirate was a terrified deckhand (although that didn't stop him from sacrificing himself for her and Henry)...

   Killian. The man who had followed her. The man who saved her family. The man who saved her. After all those years alone, never feeling like she belonged, like anyone understood her, she met him. This...indecisive, self-preserving jackass. Emma laughed softly at her own thoughts. But it was true. He looked out for himself. He did what he needed to survive. And, while very annoyed by it, she understood. 

    ** _"We understand each other. Look out for yourself and you'll never get hurt, right?"_**

   God...it had been so long since she'd said that. She could still remember the look on his face, that look of relief, relief that someone finally understood  _him._ But then again, he ended up taking the bean anyway.

   And yet, he came back.

   No begging required. He  _was_ a little late to the party, but he offered his ship when she told him what happened to Henry. It was in that moment Emma realized he wasn't some hard, dickhead pirate. He was her, and she was him - two lost souls trying to find their place in the world.

**|:|:|:|:|:|THIS I PROMISE YOU|:|:|:|:|:|**

"Permission to come aboard the helm, Captain?" Killian's voice teased, pulling Emma out of her thoughts. The blonde opened her eyes with a flirty smile.

   "I suppose that depends on what you want, Jones."

   The man smiled and climbed the stairs to where she still stood behind the large wooden wheel. He stopped a few feet from her, looking down at where her hands held the spokes firmly and smiled, a small chuckle escaping him.

   "Good form, lass."

   "What happened to Captain?" Emma said, still staring ahead in an attempt to frustrate him. She very much enjoyed frustrating him. Before she could recall all the times he'd walked away with a pout, Killian slid his hook around her arm and pulled her from her spot until their bodies were inches from each other. He had a nervous look on his face, similar to when he finally had the chance to tell Emma he loved her. They'd shared True Love's First Kiss just moments before, freeing Emma from the chains of the Dark One curse.

   "Are you okay?" Emma asked. The pirate responded with a nod, reaching up to scratch that spot behind his ear. "Something's wrong. I can tell." She'd learned his tics long ago (the scratching, a quiet burst of breath that was  _almost_ a laugh, his fingers tracing the curve of his hook) - old observational habits from her days as a bail bondsperson.

   "Actually, love, it's quite the opposite," Killian said, looking into his princess' jade green eyes. Oh, his princess. His darling, perfect princess. From the first time they met, he knew she was different, REALLY different than the other girls he'd met in his journeys. She didn't let him seduce his way through their time together. She was strong, and brave, and beautiful...

   He loved Milah. She was the first woman who wanted him, who accepted every last bit of him. She was the first person he told about his brother, about Liam. And when he shed a tear, she comforted him, telling him that men should be able to cry if they want. Milah, the dark-haired vixen who made a home in his heart and was always there to hold him when nightmares awoke him.

   For three hundred years, he couldn't let her go. Her death shook him nearly as much as Liam's and all he wanted was revenge. The beast called Rumplestiltskin needed to pay for what he had stolen.

   But then Emma came.

   She helped him out of the wreckage he was buried under (true, he did hide to infiltrate the group, but Emma saw right through him) and brought light back into his dark life. Truthfully, it wasn't until the beanstalk that he saw her not as a conquest, but as the strong woman she was.

   Sighing, he looked down. Could he really do this?

**|:|:|:|:|:|THIS I PROMISE YOU|:|:|:|:|:|**

   "You aren't really helping your case, you know," Emma said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Long pauses don't mean good news, in my experience."

   Killian looked out at the ocean, then back at Emma.

   "Emma, do you remember the first time we met?" He said. Emma nodded.

   "Yeah, of course."

   "I had my own agenda and didn't much care for those who got in my way. But you...you were different."

   Emma's heart rate doubled as her eyes widened slightly. She remembered the same sort of speech from Walsh. Obviously, Killian's was much more honest and good and - oh god...

   "Killian...what-?"

   "Love, just let me get through this. I spent a long time thinking of what I was going to say," he replied, making Emma giggle as her eyes slowly teared up. "It wasn't until the beanstalk that I knew exactly what my feelings were. I thought for a time they were just physical, but when I saw how guarded you were, I also saw myself. I had walls too - still do, in fact - and to meet someone who knew what that was like...who knew what losing love what like..."

   Emma wiped a tear away as she listened intently.

   "You are the sun in my life, Emma. Every night I spent alone, knowing you were so close but believing I never had a chance with such a woman - it killed me. And now that I have you, now that you have me, I promise I will never let you down. If you give me the chance, I will do everything in my power to give you the life you deserve. You will always be my princess, my swan. I will protect you and hold you and love you. That is, if you want."

   Killian's eyes were teary, but seeing Emma's face, that beautiful, beautiful face, he couldn't hold back the tears. Letting out a breathy laugh of embarrassment, he reached inside his leather jacket to the hidden pocket. Emma gasped as a dark wooden box appeared. Slowly dropping to kneel before her, he held the box and opened it, revealing a wedding ring, adorned with one large diamond and smaller ones wrapping all the way around.

   "Emma Swan? Will you marry me and give me the gift of protecting your heart?"

   "Yes. Yes, I will marry you, Killian. I love you!" Emma held out her hand so her new fiance could slide the ring onto her finger, then pulled him up, kissing him senseless. She loved him, and would spend the rest of her life showing him just how much.


	2. Engagement Ring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is just to show what the engagement ring looks like.


End file.
